


Misery Inspires

by Eustacia Vye (eustaciavye)



Series: Ready For The Siege [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-30
Updated: 2013-11-04
Packaged: 2017-12-30 22:02:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1023895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eustaciavye/pseuds/Eustacia%20Vye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone assumed that Loki was after Jane and her research. Everyone assumed that travel between worlds without the Bifrost was too difficult</p><p>Everyone was wrong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Can the bridges go elsewhere?

It wasn't much of a surprise for Natasha when the Avengers were reassembled and Jane Foster was present at the briefing. The Warriors Three were also there, and Natasha could see why Loki assumed Jane wasn't comfortable with Sif. Sif sat stiffly at attention beside her comrades, eyes alert for any possible dangers. She didn't look at Jane, and Jane was too busy talking about the Einstein-Rosen bridge with Bruce Banner and Tony Stark. She was animated in her speech, and didn't seem to notice anything else. Thor was obviously proud of her, nearly beaming as she tried to explain in simpler terms that she was close to completing her bridge. That would allow better and more frequent travel between the realms, which would far less dangerous than the costly magic portals Thor presently had to use.

"Can the bridges go elsewhere?" Clint asked, frowning slightly. He was no doubt remembering his time under Loki's thrall, the Tesseract opening a portal somewhere else, allowing the Chitauri to pour through.

Jane frowned, visibly thinking rapidly. "I suppose. I mean, I have my experiments set right now to the Bifrost, linking the two. It doesn't use coordinates, exactly, it's not that precise, more like a wormhole, if that makes sense." Clint nodded and Natasha just watched her very closely, mind whirring with possible reasons why Loki would be interested in Jane. "But if refined enough, I'm sure inputting different parameters can act as a coordinate system. The bridge could theoretically open anywhere you wanted it to. It just needs to be powered and directed somewhere."

Magic portals took energy and willpower to open and close, and travel wasn't instantaneous, either. Thor described seeing portals that functioned almost like pathways through nightmarish realms, warping reality to create and close them. The Warriors Three were suspiciously silent and Fandral looked rather green at the discussion of the portals. Natasha wondered what had happened to him, if creatures wandered the paths between worlds.

"Shortcuts, I would assume," Jane said after a moment, not particularly squeamish at the thought. She was a scientist, after all. Her first instinct was to categorize and study everything unknown, and the paths along Yggdrasil were definitely unknown. "I've discussed it with Lady Frigga while I was in Asgard, swapping magic and science terminology." Her pure joy at the discussion shone through. "She calls her magic _seidr,_ and it took a bit for us to find something equivalent. Quantum theory is the closest I can come, I think."

Natasha tuned out the excited talk from Banner and Stark, watching them all closely. It could be done, she thought. Clint was on the right track, as he usually was. Most underestimated his intellectual capabilities, and he liked it that way, but the distance he had to situations allowed him the ability to take leaps in logic.

Magic was complicated and could cost too much for any single sorcerer. Jane's bridge, however, could take people anywhere in Yggdrasil, if not beyond.

Clint caught her thoughtful look. "What is it?"

"This is an obvious target," she replied. Her voice must have carried, because Sif looked straight at her and the Warriors Three looked curiously in her direction. It wasn't discomfort but honest concern and an appreciation for what she was saying. Sif wasn't too proud to take a mortal's advice, and the Warriors Three didn't seem the type either.

"Well, this is what we've been working toward, but there are some problems with this that I haven't quite worked out yet," Jane said, pointing at a complicated equation that Natasha didn't even bother to glance at. Theoretical astrophysics wasn't exactly her forte, and Jane didn't really feel the need to translate theory into English. "Assuming we can get a stable enough energy source to help stabilize the harmonics—"

"This is a portal that can be directed anywhere, with little to no effort on your part," Natasha interrupted, seeing that Jane didn't understand her point. "It can be used to travel without difficulty. It can be made as large or as small as you need it to be. Anything like that can be weaponized, or used to bring an army to any location."

The room fell utterly silent, and Jane looked at her in horror. It obviously wasn't her intent, and she hadn't thought of the ways her research could be corrupted.

Sif leaned in and touched Jane's arm in silent support. "Of course we do not believe you have such ill intentions to our realm. You are a friend to Asgard."

Interesting. Loki really had no idea how their relationship actually was. Sif took her duties as protector seriously, but she wasn't distant because she didn't find Jane a friend. Similarly, Jane didn't dismiss Sif out of fear, but out of devotion to her studies. This made Natasha wonder at Loki's perceptions and motives. Was he really so out of touch? Or was he so pessimistic that he ascribed sinister motives to everyone?

That got Stark talking about biometric recognition to activate the bridge technology, pass codes and perhaps installing an AI to cover the computational work needed to direct the ends of the wormholes. Natasha tuned all of that out and looked at Clint with a neutral expression. "How long until the tech is stolen?" she asked.

He snorted softly. "Bet you it's less than six months."

She nodded with a small smile. "Twenty says it's between six months to a year."

"You're on."

***

Natasha had initially been alone at the gym, moving through her workout with her hair pulled out of her eyes and clothes dripping with sweat. It had started with a routine similar to what she had once done as a ballerina to limber up, with moves to stretch and lengthen muscles as well as warm up. Then came the cardio, strength training and muy thai boxing, which was that particular day's workout. She could spend over two hours doing this if not on assignment somewhere, and her hunt for Hydra agents was currently at a standstill. For now, she still wanted to avoid being on Jane Foster's security detail. Something in her gut twisted at the thought of having to fight Loki again, of having him twist and carve into her flesh.

The scar in question seemed to twinge in sympathy for the thought. Pushing that sensation out of her mind, Natasha began punching the air again.

Loki seemed to shimmer into existence just in front of her extended fist.

Pulling back a little, she leveled a stare at him. He had promised to see her again, and now here he was. Dressed as a mortal businessman, he was out of place in the gym. His hair was slicked back, and he had an elegant green striped tie at his throat. If she hadn't known better, she would have said that his eyes traveled over her body appreciatively. "Why are you here?" she asked when he made no move to speak.

"Would you strike me?"

"Are you giving me a reason to?"

His lips pulled back into a smile. "Oh, I easily could. But not now." He walked around her in a slow circle. Natasha remained where she was, only turning her head slightly to track his motions as he walked. "Your searches have still yielded nothing."

"Did you get rid of the one I was looking for?"

Loki's lips curled back into a deadly smile. "Why would I help you? Those mortals mean nothing, are nothing. They're simply tools to be used and discarded when no longer needed."

Something cold and hard coiled in the pit of Natasha's stomach, and her wrists ached painfully, though she didn't outwardly react. It could have been the pull of the scar on her abdomen and the invisible ones on her wrists, some part of Loki left behind and calling to him. His eyes flicked to her hands, still curled into fists, no change in his expression. "Would you like to spar?" she asked as challenge. His smile widened, so she boldly asked "Interested in hand to hand this time?"

"Of a sort," he hedged.

Natasha didn't rise to the bait, waiting. After a minute or two, her heart rate was down and stable, the sweat cooling on her skin. She wouldn't crack first.

Loki didn't mind the silence or her cool stare. He finally opened the suit jacket and removed a slip of paper. He extended it out to her between two of his slim fingers, spiky writing clearly visible on it. "There are no wards to activate, no malicious spells," he said quietly when she didn't immediately move. "But you were looking for this."

"Why give me this?" she asked, retrieving the slip of paper. Fury would be pleased knowing Loki was freely giving her information. That slotted nicely into his agenda. Of course, she didn't trust Loki at all, and didn't assume that Fury did. 

"Perhaps we can be of mutual benefit," Loki purred.

All right, that she could believe. "How so?" she asked cautiously, still not looking at the slip's contents. Getting the information would have to come with a price, and she wasn't willing to pay it until she knew what she was getting into.

"I have my wants. You have yours."

_You need to make his plans align with ours._

Natasha raised an eyebrow. "So what are yours, if you believe you know mine?"

"You're seeking these men. Here's where one of their headquarters are currently located. I'm sure you'll check on its validity first." His smile was all teeth, and Natasha thought of a shark coming in for the kill once it scented blood in the water. She thought of the way his knife had dug under her skin, the way his tongue curled around his blade to lick up her blood. "I haven't given you cause to trust me, I know."

"What is it that you want?"

"What creature can truly know what it wants? Recognition is a good start."

She flicked a glance at the paper in her hands. "Odessa, Texas. That's arbitrary."

"I gather that was the point," Loki returned.

Conceding the point, Natasha gave him a nod. A chill rolled down her spine, though she attributed it to her cooling skin. "Is recognition so important?"

Something burned in his eyes, and Natasha squelched the urge to step back from him. Loki came in too close for her liking, and the prickle in her scars intensified. "Sometimes it is only the little things that matter, is it not?" He ran a finger along the edge of her lower lip, eyes traveling along the curve of her mouth. "We do what needs must, and deal with the consequences if we have to."

Why was he saying "we?" Did he truly include her in this plan of his? She thought of the dread she had felt when Fury called her their Loki expert. Surely Thor would have said he understood his adopted brother, but she knew that anything he said would be suspect. Few likely understood Loki and his desires.

"Would you like to visit Thor?" she asked, voice even. That would be a form of recognition. She hadn't asked him what exactly it was that he wanted, going for the why of it instead. Sometimes that was more important to know, if only to make him more predictable. She already knew that he thought of humans as unimportant playthings, subject to his whims. If she could learn what those whims were...

"No." Loki's expression shut down and he seemed to recoil without moving.

"Some would think he was rather generous. He still cares for you as a brother."

"He is not my brother," Loki snarled in an undertone. "He cares for his own glory, being hailed as a hero even when he lacks understanding of what is proper." It was such a change from the quiet "I don't like what follows" when he had allowed himself to be captured at Stuttgart and brought to the helicarrier. Natasha hadn't seen his expression then, but this right now was not feigned. Whatever happened between them, he truly believed what he was saying. She made a mental note to ask Thor about it.

"Who would you like to see, then?"

"I already have visited those I care to."

He stepped back before Natasha could take a breath and vanished. It had to be an invisibility spell of some kind, but it was still impressive as hell.

Natasha headed to the showers. Let him look if he wanted to, he had seen her naked already. She was less concerned about nudity than appearing to cater to his whims. He might be a god as far as mortals were concerned, but she didn't have to give him more power than he already had.

***

While SHIELD's junior agents looked into Odessa, Natasha arranged to meet with Thor. He had a suite at Stark's tower, and was talking about the beauty of Pop Tarts and pancakes with Clint Barton. Natasha couldn't help but smirk at them both as she came in, seeing their feet up on the coffee table and a Disney movie on that they weren't even really watching. Times like this, they seemed more like overgrown boys than the potentially dangerous men that they were.

"Lady Natasha," Thor greeted with smile. Clint simply nodded. "You requested a conference to discuss something of potential import."

"It might not be," she said, shrugging as she sat down on an armchair to the side of the coffee table. She looked over at Clint. "You don't have to leave."

"The Little Mermaid can wait," Clint replied, hitting pause on the remote. "We kind of got side tracked with the collection of all her stuff."

Natasha allowed herself a smile. "I can see that, yes." She turned to Thor. "You know I was requested to deal with Loki."

"Your Director did not ask me for help. I believe my brother would not find it welcoming," he admitted with a sigh. "But I would still help as I can, Lady. I wish him peace, in whatever form that may be," he told her earnestly.

"He finds me, wherever I happen to be at the time, and starts to spar. It could be physically, it could be verbally."

"He could find you a challenge."

"Somehow I doubt that," she replied dryly, "but thank you for the vote of confidence. When I mentioned you this last time, he got very angry. Downright furious, in fact, and said all you cared for was glory and that you had a poor understanding of propriety."

"He said that?" Clint asked in surprise.

"Just about," Natasha replied. She looked at Thor, who appeared stricken. "Something happened between the two of you," she guessed, her voice soft and surprisingly gentle. "Fury wants me to bring Loki into the fold, have him work for SHIELD if possible. Is it?"

"He still is angered over imagined slights," Thor said, shaking his head. "We fought together, we played together. We were raised as brothers, and it was what I believed him to be. Our friends believed it to be so, and none truly thought ill of him until he usurped our father's place."

Natasha zeroed in on the phrase "imagined slights." That would be the key. Just because Thor didn't understand Loki's point of view didn't mean nothing happened. "Did he ever mention particular things to you? Events from before the time Odin fell into the Odinsleep?"

Thor shook his head, lost in thought. "We fought, we played childish games as brothers do. He was far more skilled in letters and the _seidr,_ and I was champion on the field. Differences in our expertise, perhaps, but no less important."

"Did you always feel that way?"

His silence spoke volumes.

"And when Odin fell asleep?" Natasha asked gently.

"I was already exiled," Thor said slowly, looking at a point just past Natasha's ear. It was painful for him, and Natasha had to tell herself that this was necessary. She wasn't putting him through this for no reason. She wasn't delighting in his misery, but the scar on her abdomen seemed to pulse in pleasure.

"Natasha," Clint said after a moment, uncomfortable with Thor's wounded silence.

"Hold, friend," Thor murmured, shaking his head. "I am well. The Lady wishes to understand my brother's imaginings, the better to work with him." At her nod, he gave her a grimace of a smile. "I grieved, believing myself unworthy. He appeared to me, telling me of the Odinsleep, that I was not to return home. I had lost the respect of friends and family, I had no place. I was outcast, lost to time and place. It was not true, and my friends sought to correct the mistake. Even after the Allfather woke, when Loki's deeds were brought to light, he continued to lie. Rather than return to Asgard, he chose to fall and be lost to us."

Natasha's gut tightened with his words, but her expression remained neutral. "What if he feels that way now?"

"I offer kinship!" Thor exclaimed, surprised. "I did not steal his birthright or dishonor him as he may claim. I call him brother and I wish it were still so!"

"I understand that," she said slowly, clearly. Natasha reached forward and touched the back of Thor's hand. "But you said he imagined that he was wronged. What if _he_ felt unworthy all this time? What if he still feels that way now?"

"I would correct this misunderstanding," Thor declared earnestly, eyes nearly lighting up at the thought. "We could be brothers once more."

She rather doubted that, but kept silent for a moment. "He wants some kind of recognition," she began slowly. "He told me that much. Rather than rushing in, this might be something best worked on slowly. Gain his trust."

Thor seemed to understand that, nodding. "The Chitauri are unknown to Asgard, so when he had fallen from the Bifrost, he could have run afoul of those creatures."

"There was something else there," Clint said abruptly. Both Natasha and Thor turned to look at him. "I couldn't see it, but it looked like sometimes he was talking with someone. He never looked right afterward, like he was in pain. I couldn't question it at the time."

Natasha had never heard of that before, but she hadn't wanted to pry before he was ready to discuss it. That wasn't their way. Rolling the information around in her head, she thought carefully about the way he had interacted with her so far. "He likes to be in control, and he had been stripped of much of that. Loki wasn't the older brother growing up, and he wasn't as good as you in armed combat. If Asgard is anything like the Norse eddas, his gifts with magic wouldn't have been appreciated. He would have felt unvalued, with no control or power."

Though he looked like he wanted to contest that assessment, Thor didn't. He nodded slowly after a moment. Clint mouthed _Norse eddas?_ at her, but didn't interrupt.

"The recognition he wants might not be from you, Thor. He may want it someday, I don't know, but right now, you probably remind him of what he's lost."

"I offer friendship..." Thor protested.

"He may not be ready to take it."

Clint looked at Natasha closely. "Are you offering, then?"

"I have Fury's orders."

Not the same thing, and they both knew it. Thor chose to interpret it that way, and he looked at her with a broad, confident smile. "Your heart is kind and wondrous. It will show him the error of his ways, I am sure."

Looking vaguely ill, Clint looked away. _You have heart,_ Loki had said before enslaving his mind and twisting him. Occasionally, he still had nightmares, though Natasha didn't know all of the details. She assumed it was of attacking the helicarrier or finding the mercenaries to work for Loki. He still carried far too much guilt for that, though he likely would never accept absolution of that grief.

"I can only do my best," Natasha told Thor gently. "We'll have to wait and see."

***

"So is it Hydra or Loki that's your focus now?" Clint asked as they walked toward a SHIELD gym. He had his collapsible compound bow in hand, and she had knives. Most junior agents scurried to get out of their way.

"I have both orders," she replied, voice neutral. "Apparently it's not a mutually exclusive task."

"There's also protecting Foster," he remarked as they entered the range portion of the gym. "I know you didn't want to be on that detail."

"Loki thought I'd be there. That's reason enough for me not to be."

"Oh?" he asked, curious as he snapped the bow open.

She inspected the case full of knives that she had brought with her. "He's bested me twice now. I won't be able to protect Dr. Foster. Not physically, anyway." Natasha pursed her lips and looked up at him. It was on the tip of her tongue to say _He marked me,_ but the syllables refused to form at all.

"It's not like you to be afraid."

"It's not fear, it's being realistic. Someone like a god goes up against a mortal..." She shrugged slightly and looked at the edge of her blade critically. "Better that other godlike beings are there if he does show up."

"You're piecing together a dossier," Clint guessed, reaching into his quiver for an arrow.

"I need to know what he wants in order to bring him in."

They didn't discuss the fact that he had brought her in that way. He had tracked her for months before approaching her. Clint had seen the exhaustion in her eyes, the droop in her stance. He had seen someone worth saving even if she didn't believe herself worthy of it, and she had worked to prove him right. It was a debt she likely could never fully repay, but that wouldn't stop her from trying.

Clint fired off a few arrows and she practiced her precision knife throwing. They worked in companionable silence in neighboring aisles of the range. It was quieter than the pistol range, at least. Walking over to collect the ammunition to start again, he looked over at her. "Not everyone can be redeemed," he murmured slowly. His blunt fingers rubbed the edge of one arrowhead, his gaze distant. "I know Fury wants you to try, and that you'll do whatever it takes to make that happen. Loki is _crazy,_ Tash. Even you can't predict him." He paused, then put the arrow away before looking at her. "Before, when he had control over me... What I remember is garbled and faded now. He doesn't think the way we do."

"I would imagine few do," she replied with a sardonic twist to her lips.

As she had hoped, he laughed a little. "I guess not," he agreed. He collected the last few arrows and gave her a knife she hadn't retrieved yet. "Magic takes a lot out of him. He had looked sick at the time to start with, so that hadn't helped the situation. But it was stressful, made him an even edgier, crazy bastard. I remember being worried about him, thinking it would break him apart and destroy what was left of his mind."

Natasha's gaze sharpened. "What was left of his mind?" she echoed.

"I never got the details. But he had the same look in his eyes as traumatized field agents. You know how that is."

Yes, she did. That could explain so much of what had happened. Falling off of a broken Bifrost, getting involved with the Chitauri, being physically ill and still trying to put on the façade for everyone that he was in control and invincible...

"He wants recognition," Natasha murmured as they walked back to the start. "I never asked what kind it was that he was looking for."

"He wanted to be a king," Clint replied. "Is there any other kind for him?"

She looked at the point of her blade and down the length of the range. Throwing it, the knife hit the bull's eye and was buried to the hilt. "I suppose not."

"Careful, Tash," he said softly. "Don't lose yourself bringing him in."

Natasha looked at him, her own gaze softening. There was too much unsaid between them, too much she would never be able to articulate. "Not if I have you with me."

Clint flashed her a wild, reckless grin as he shot off his own bull's eye. "Always."

***

Natasha found Jane and Sif in Stark Tower. She couldn't quite bring herself to think of it as Avengers Tower yet, as much as Stark said he intended to create areas that each member of the team could call home. Bruce Banner was there, working in one of the labs that Stark had generously provided him, and Jane had come to consult with him regarding radiation patterns in her bridge that she couldn't quite get right. The two apparently had conversed in advanced scientific terms for hours before Natasha had arrived, because Sif looked ready to hit something out of boredom.

"Perhaps you and I could talk," Natasha said to Sif, her voice pitched low enough not to carry over to the two scientists.

Sif sat at attention, and now diverted her gaze toward Natasha. She carried herself as if the civilian clothing she wore was armor, defeating its purpose to help her blend in. Tall and with sleek black hair, Sif was very obviously there to watch over Jane's safety. Jane seemed largely oblivious to that fact, poring over complicated equations and discussing variables with Bruce. Prior to meeting Thor in the desert outside of Puente Antiguo, Jane hadn't had to consider sheer strength and combat skills in people she knew. She still wasn't very good at it, overlooking Natasha's entrance completely. The redhead had come on a social call, so she was in a simple shirt and jeans.

"The Director of SHIELD is considering having Loki do consulting work." Sif immediately lost interest in Jane and stared at Natasha incredulously. "You know him."

"Of the lies his silver tongue drips into the ears of those willing to believe them," she corrected, scorn readily evident in her voice. Narrowing her eyes at Natasha, she seemed to weigh her next words carefully. "Once, I might have named him friend. But his pride and foul desires for power destroyed any such feeling that might have existed. He is a creature that will twist any good intent your director may have for such an association."

"Can his powers be bound?"

That surprised Sif. "Using his magic against him? Or for your cause?"

"Is it possible? I've been reading Norse eddas in the hopes of understanding the culture a bit more, but it's likely been corrupted over time."

"I have not heard these tales of which you speak."

"They're stories of Norse gods, the troubles and trials they've undergone, and some mention Loki." Natasha paused. "In those tales, he has children."

Sif let out a short, huffing breath that might have been an amused snort. "He did not sire any offspring. The tales are wrong."

"Was there ever a giantess he was involved with? Or someone commissioned to build a wall around Asgard?"

Now she laughed a little. "Perhaps all tales begin with a grain of truth. Those ruling Helheim certainly claim him as kin, and Hel is said to resemble him." She looked at Natasha appraisingly. "There is caution in you. The Man of Iron would not tread so carefully. He had goaded Loki, tried to match wits. The others went to battle."

"I used his misperceptions about me against him once. I doubt I'll be able to do that again."

"He is a sly one," she agreed, looking back at Jane when she made a startled noise. It was simply in response to Bruce pointing out an error in the work she had been doing, leading to furious scribbling and more intense astrophysics jargon.

"What can you tell me about who he used to be?"

Now Sif sighed, keeping her eyes on Jane. "We were little more than children. Petty squabbles, callow dreams, insults not meant to harm. I unmanned him, he cut my hair. There were taunts about his magicks, and Thor generously offered to share his spoils. It was not malicious in intent, but Thor tells me Loki deems it so."

"I believe he does."

"I had never considered before that he might have been inspired by misery, that he would have held such hurt." Her voice was quiet, pained. "Too much has passed since then, and it cannot be undone or repaired."

"You don't think so?" Natasha asked Sif gently, curious. "What if it could be?"

She shook her head and kept her gaze fixed on Jane. "His heart has been hardened through misery and his own misfortune. If he cannot see as others do, cannot let go of these harms he believes we inflicted, he will not reconcile. He will not return to Asgard unless it is to burn it to ashes and dance on our graves." She turned to Natasha, expression pained. "It is his way. He is a proud, vain creature. As we all are, in our way. Loki will not admit fault in himself, will not see a different path than the one he has set himself on. So now we are adversaries, and I will slay him if I must, even if it pains me to do so."

"Would you stop us if I convince him to join SHIELD?"

Sif gave Natasha a sad smile. "If you could perform this feat, it would be miraculous indeed."

***

"You've been quite curious about me," Loki said as he slid into a seat beside Natasha at an outdoor café. She and Clint had been sitting there in silence, each nursing a latte and enjoying the summer evening. It was a rare spate of rest, especially considering that the junior agents had taken the Odessa Hydra base apart and were analyzing its contents. Likely more locations would be found soon, and Natasha would be on the move. Clint was working with Stark to watch over Jane as she reconstructed the Bifrost.

Interstellar travel would be a draw for Loki and could be weaponized. Technology like that could not be allowed to fall into the wrong hands.

Clint tensed immediately at the sound of Loki's voice, but the trickster was looking intently at Natasha. "Little spider," he purred, "Whatever are you looking for?"

"Something that might help you get proper recognition."

He stilled, head tilted to the side as he contemplated her. "So you are holding up your end of the bargain, then." He reached out and traced a finger along the inside of her wrist, right along the seam he had knitted back together. "Interesting."

"If an apology was ever offered for past grievances," Natasha began, using her other hand to lift her latte to her lips, "would you accept it?" Her tone was casual, pretending Loki's presence didn't bother her.

Loki snatched his hand away from hers as if burned. "You will get no such thing."

"Isn't that recognition?" she asked.

He shot to his feet, visibly disturbed. "This is not the purpose, little spider. Careful whose webs you seek to unravel." Loki watched her drink calmly for a moment, then slid his eyes toward Clint. He took in their postures, the way they had been watching passersby quietly, the evening heat not so oppressive. "Do you remember?" he asked Clint, eyeing him closely. "Can you recall the threads that bound you to me, the control I held over you?" Loki leaned in, a crazed look in his eyes.

Natasha put a hand to Loki's chest and pushed gently. He actually followed the movement and sank back into his seat. "There are other options," she said mildly, as if Clint wasn't sitting with every muscle taut and ready to spring.

"Oh? Do tell."

"There are occasionally practitioners of magic on Earth—"

"Childish pranks," Loki scoffed, leaning back in his seat arrogantly. "It's not true magic."

"—and your expertise would be greatly respected and valued."

Loki remained silent as Clint glared at him and Natasha sipped her latte. "I would think you have more need of me than I of you."

"What good is an expert if there is no one there to recognize it?" she returned. "This is a separate realm from Asgard. Their rules don't apply here."

A slow, sinister smile stretched across his lips. "Indeed, they do not."

"I remember," Clint said abruptly, his eyes fixed on Loki. "And I remember the threads that bound _you,"_ he added, voice hard. "Is someone out there still pulling on them?"

Loki's expression contorted into rage, but Natasha merely put down her cup. "Perhaps there are other benefits to offer you, then," she said.

"You are not so powerful," Loki sneered at her.

"Not alone."

He stood, the sneer still stretched across his lips. His entire body seemed to thrum with tension, and he struck an almost aggressive pose. "You are nothing. You have nothing."

"I'm sure the Chitauri enjoyed the nuclear missiles," Clint replied, a hard edge to his voice.

"Their master worships death," Loki replied. "You cannot escape his notice now."

"Stay here long enough, he'll find you, too."

Loki made a frustrated sound and left as abruptly as he came, not looking backward. Clint waited a beat until he was calm enough to face Natasha. "Fury made a mistake with this."

"Too late to be undone," she murmured gently, reaching out to him across the table. Though Clint didn't know about them, his fingers found the invisible line across her wrist where Loki's knife and sealing spells had been. She shivered at the contact, meeting his eyes. "I know what will happen if I fail with this. Loki will remain untethered and will practically have free rein to do what he likes. The Council will pin the blame on me."

"Screw the Council. I'm worried about _you."_

Natasha pushed away any fears she might have had about herself. That didn't matter as much to her, as long as Clint remained safe and she still had the trust of those in SHIELD command. She didn't know what Loki had planned, but it couldn't be good.

Creatures that worshipped death generally didn't fear it.

***  
***


	2. Keep Her Safe

Jane sighed as her stomach rumbled. At first, she had protested leaving the lab and the half-finished layout of the mechanism that should be able to create the Einstein-Rosen Bridge. Now, it was painfully obvious that she had missed both breakfast and lunch. "I miss Darcy. Why couldn't they just create a job for her so she can still help me? I forget about all these regular things like eating and sleeping." She tucked her hair behind her ears and looked over at Clint, who was her SHIELD escort for the day. "Don't you think you could pull some strings and get her hired?"

"I'm pretty sure my word doesn't count for much," he said, leading her out of Stark Tower. "It might just get circular-filed."

Snorting, she shook her head. "If they think I'm important enough to hide in some nondescript corner of the world to do some research, then I should be able to rate a personal assistant to make sure I actually survive long enough to finish this project."

Clint chuckled and walked toward the armored car that would take them to a SHIELD-approved restaurant. Normally Bruce would have made something for her eat in a relatively clean corner of the lab, but he was out of the tower at the moment. Fandral had mentioned that he found her dedication impressive, and Clint had understood that to mean Jane had buried herself in her work. Not having much else to do, he had taken it upon himself to extract the scientist to get her fed and let her air out her brain. He had thought it was odd that Natasha was nowhere around, but if Loki had the annoying tendency of showing up wherever she did, it was possibly a good stance for the assassin to take.

He didn't know what was going on with the two of them. Natasha was alternately terrified and assured that she had some kind of hold over Loki. She wouldn't ask Clint for help if she could avoid it; she was stubbornly self reliant and overly protective of him. He knew she didn't want to trigger any flashbacks, but Clint would deal with those if they came without complaint. It was part of the price for the work that he did, and it wouldn't be the first time he had to deal with the fallout of trauma. Then again, perhaps Natasha didn't want to involve him because his mind had been unmade. He had never asked about the details of the Red Room's behavioral program, though he knew it involved brainwashing and personality overlays. Natasha had been declared free of triggers and buried code words by several SHIELD experts, but Clint couldn't help but wonder if she was as unaffected by it as she pretended to be. Sometimes he could forget aspects of her history, but at other times they were all too salient and difficult to ignore.

Jane enjoyed the hole in the wall establishment that was one of Clint's favorites. They talked about random things, and she told him a little about what she had seen in Asgard during her visit months before. It sounded like some kind of archaic fantasy land, which must have been quite the thing to see. His archery skill would have been greatly appreciated there.

It was toward the end of dinner where Clint felt his hackles rise. He didn't know what it was, but something had him suddenly on alert. He trusted that instinct; it was the same one that had him reacting to the Tesseract before the portal opened.

"Hey, let's get you back to the lab," he told Jane with a smile during a natural pause in their conversation. "I'm sure now that you've had a break and some actual food, you can figure out whatever it is that you're missing."

"I won't bore you with the details," Jane teased, rising as he threw some money down on the table. There was the sensation of being watched, but there was no one obvious in the restaurant staring at them. The sensation persisted, and the only person who likely had interest in what Jane was doing could become invisible with a spell. Clint's bow was still in the tower, as it was fairly conspicuous on the street when he was supposed to be a civilian. He didn't even have a service weapon with him. Smiling at Jane, Clint suppressed the urge to swear.

Natasha was outside the restaurant, leaning against the wall. She didn't quite look at Clint, her expression impassive. "Hurry back," she said softly. He noticed that one hand was clenched into a fist, and there was tension in her spine. It didn't quite look right, but he wasn't about to question her with Jane walking back to the armored car.

Natasha didn't respond to his lofted eyebrow, which wasn't like her at all. The sense of wrongness down his spine intensified, and Clint wanted to grab Natasha and shake her. Damn that stoic silence. Sometimes that made it more difficult to figure out what was going on.

"Don't let him get her," she said, voice sharper now. Jane was in the process of opening the side door to the car, and she turned to look at Clint and Natasha in confusion. Clint waved at her to indicate she should sit inside, and that he would be right there. "She's the important one right now, you know that."

The cadence in her voice was off. Her stance wasn't exactly the same, but it was close. "Loki."

Natasha's lips compressed into a thin line. Another expression that didn't seem to sit on her face just right, though he couldn't have pointed to anything in particular that told him that. His chest felt tight, as if he was being tugged in too many different directions.

"Keep her safe," she said, nodding toward Jane.

There were no problems getting Jane to Stark Tower. Clint couldn't reach Natasha on her cell phone, and no one at SHIELD knew where she was. She wasn't currently on any assignments, as she had handed off the Hydra search to junior agents. She should have been readily available for contact. She never avoided Clint when he needed to talk to her, never.

What kind of game was Loki playing?

***

Natasha had no idea what Clint was talking about when he approached her about the cryptic comments. "I was meeting with Fury in the Dead Room," she told him, eyebrow raised. The Dead Room blocked all telecommunications signals, and it had been built with the hopes that the same shielding could work on magic or telepathic powers. "He wanted to know about my progress with Loki."

Clint let out a slow, steady breath. "He's playing us," he said after a moment. He summarized what had happened the day before, and Natasha remained silent, processing what he was saying. "Tash?" he asked, voice soft. "I know you're you. I _know_ it, but there were times when he came pretty damn close."

"Have you told Fury?"

"My meeting with him is this afternoon."

"Good. I got new information about a Hydra lab yesterday afternoon."

"From Loki."

Nodding, Natasha remained silent. Clint starting pacing with jerky steps, and she resisted the urge to grab him. He needed to work through his thoughts, and she had to trust that he would back off if it triggered any flashbacks of Loki's mind control. "Where is it?" Clint asked finally.

"Bern."

Clint didn't stop his pacing, turning over thoughts in his mind. Natasha didn't rush him, and thought about how Loki had been waiting for her when she left the helicarrier. Her invisible scars had ached terribly, and the one visible scar he had given her gave her a jolt of pleasure when she approached him. He had been charming and reasonable-sounding, aggrieved at the thought that Hydra was recruiting agents by invoking his name. "The filthy creatures have nothing to do with me," he had said, sounding irritated. "If I build up a following, I can command better minds than those." At the time, she had remained silent and had taken the information to look into.

"He warned me to look after Jane and sends you far away from New York. I don't like it."

"The rest of you are concentrated here," she replied, referring to the Avengers and the Asgardians. "We all have a job to do, and it'll get done."

"He's isolating you. Why?"

_I already have visited those I care to._

Could there be some other purpose in mind other than manipulating them or making them into fools? Could Loki actually be trying to help them?

"I'm not sure," Natasha told him after a moment. She wasn't willing to raise the possibility of a helpful Loki just yet. It could be wishful thinking. Her job would be easier then, and if Loki was genuine she wouldn't have to constantly be on guard.

"The Hydra agents think Loki will lead them toward global dominance," Clint continued. "It's a recruiting tactic, at least. The preliminary report indicates that they're developing Level Two technology." He smiled grimly at Natasha's blink of surprise. "I may have looked into it, even without the proper clearance level."

"May have," Natasha echoed, lips quirking slightly.

"They still don't check the air vents very well," he said with a careless shrug.

Natasha snickered. "Their own fault, then. They should have expected that."

Clint's expression sobered. "Level Two, Tash. And if Loki's involved at all..."

"I'll find out."

"Do you think you can manipulate it out of him?" he asked, curious.

"He may hold me in high enough regard to answer."

Crossing his arms, Clint frowned. "That's an answer that sounds like him."

She briefly thought of her scars, which she hadn't shown anyone. Was Loki working his way into her mind? Or was it more that she was learning to think the way he did?

"I'll do what it takes to find out."

He sighed at her determined expression. "That's what I'm afraid of."

***

Determined to have the upper hand for a change, Natasha laid out Loki's appearances on a map and looked for a pattern. They all seemed to center around midtown Manhattan. While that could be explained away by Stark Tower or her choice of safe house, it could also be that Loki had his own base of operations in the area. That would be a perfect way to keep watch over their movements and track what Jane was doing. The moment her lab equipment was moved out of Stark Tower, he would know and pounce.

She started walking throughout the entire area, trying to see it from Loki's point of view. Midtown was teeming with mortals walking to and fro, scurrying about to get on with their lives and their usual daily concerns. The flow of the crowds conferred anonymity, which he would like right now. Dressed in a suit and without any obvious magic at work, he could blend in and appear like any other professional from a distance. Most of Midtown consisted of businesses, office buildings, tourist attractions and the occasional park. Locals lived in the upper stories of the high rises, but living in a small apartment didn't seem Loki's style. He would want something grand, spacious and imposing. It would have to reflect his personality, and the average apartment in Manhattan wouldn't cut it.

Natasha got herself a Starbucks latte and sat down across the street at a table outside of Bryant Park. There were no good places to hide in Midtown, which is why she had went a little farther afield for her own safe house. Loki might like Soho or TriBeCa perhaps, but it wouldn't be very convenient to track Stark Tower.

She sipped and thought about what she knew and what she thought she knew about Loki. There was a larger plan at work, that was for certain. No one wanted the Einstein-Rosen bridge to fall into his hands, which seemed to be his objective. It would be an easy way to move from place to place, world to world. Loki could invade Asgard if he truly wanted to. Sif and the Warriors Three were on Midgard to help protect Jane and the developing bridge, but the rest of Asgard was on high alert for an invasion.

For the moment, Loki seemed almost _too_ helpful, drawing her away from Jane and Stark Tower. He either saw her as useless to protect Jane or had something different in mind waiting for her. Eyes dropping to her wrists, Natasha turned over their fight in her mind. He had referred to their sparring as play, and the sex had been a different kind of play. Loki had certainly enjoyed that, though it wasn't quite the same as physical desire that he had in mind. Sex might play a role in it, but his plans involved her in an entirely different way.

Natasha finished her latte and headed for the Upper West Side. Lincoln Center seemed to be more in keeping with Loki's sensibilities. Higher end restaurants, theater, art and more dramatic options for living areas. The neighborhood wasn't that far away, so tracking spells were a possibility. It could be how he kept finding her even when she thought she was alone.

As Natasha crossed into Columbus Circle, she thought she got a flash of ink-black hair and a tailored suit out of the corner of her eye. The hair or suit alone wouldn't have made her stop and turn, but her L-shaped scar throbbed. She turned and saw Loki striding toward the entrance to Central Park, hands shoved deeply into the pockets of the suit jacket. That had been the motion had caught her eye.

Following him at a distance, she took note of what he looked at, trying to piece together what mattered to him. It was getting close to lunch hour, and there were tourists and families milling about near the park. Loki avoided the horse drawn carriages and headed straight into the park, directly going for the large boulders that had been left behind when the Ice Age glaciers had receded millennia ago. Natasha could see two college students sitting on the one that was nearest to the Columbus Circle entrance of the Park, Fordham University's insignia clearly visible on their sweatshirts. One had a text in his lap, the other looked bored. Both took one look at Loki as he approached and hastily scrambled off of the boulder.

The startled look on Loki's face when Natasha clambered up after him was priceless.

"You truly are a spider, are you not?" he asked, voice level.

"It's peaceful here," she replied, not bothering to answer his question.

"This is _my_ place to sit, little spider," Loki said, lip curling in distaste. "Go elsewhere."

"Like Bern?" she couldn't help but ask.

"It's elsewhere."

"So are many other places."

Loki fell silent, but Natasha could tolerate this. She sat beside him, taking in the spring weather. It was still chilly, but the sun was out and the temperatures were already starting to rise. Soon the usual NYC humidity and heat would begin. As an ice giant, would Loki be discomfited with that? Or did his Asgardian appearance mean that he wasn't as intolerant to heat as she supposed that he was?

He broke first, nodding at the crowds heading deeper into Central Park. "These mortals, they have no idea what damage I could do to them."

No, they didn't. Natasha's job was to make sure they never would.

Holding his palm flat in front of him, Loki pursed his lips. A small sphere began to materialize, hovering an inch above his skin. "I could take this energy, destroy these buildings, tear up the trees, hurl the boulders into the crowds. I _could."_

Natasha reached for the sphere, but he abruptly closed his hand into a fist, dissipating it. "You could," she agreed. "But you won't."

"Are you that sure?"

"You wouldn't be here sitting and talking with me."

The L-shaped scar tugged at her, but Natasha couldn't tell why. Loki's lips stretched into a slight smile, and she couldn't interpret his expression at all. "There is so much you don't know, little spider," Loki said, voice low and sounding seductive. "So much I could show you..." His fingers trailed down the length of one arm, and now his expression looked hopeful. It was the look of someone that wanted her romantic interest, wishing she felt the same.

Leaning in close, Natasha's lips hovered two inches from his. "Then show me."

Loki chuckled. "Not just yet. There's still much to do here."

"Leave Jane alone."

"She's not your concern, is she?" Loki taunted.

"No. You've been giving me locations to find Hydra." She shifted her position slightly so that her arms no longer propped her up on the boulder. Natasha laid her hand on his knee. "For your benefit, of course."

"If they were not your concern, what would you be doing?" he asked, curious.

"Other missions."

"Did you want more than that?"

"There was never any point," she admitted, shrugging with one shoulder. She kept her hand on his knee, her body still turned toward his. "It was always about my very particular skill set. That was what I knew."

She had been so young when the Red Room got her, and any girlish dreams had been excised ruthlessly within months of her arrival. Natasha couldn't remember anything other than the drive to succeed, to best the other girls in the program, to be the one they picked first for ops. When the programming failed and she realized what the ops actually were, she had fallen back on what she knew best. She hadn't been ordinary, and without the programming didn't know how to pretend to be. As a mercenary, coming across SHIELD's radar, there hadn't been time to dream of anything different. It was only when Clint asked what she really wanted that she even started thinking she could balance the scales in some way.

"And sometimes, all you know is useless," Loki murmured, his hand falling over hers on his knee. "All you have is misery left in your wake."

"What are your regrets, then?" Natasha asked.

Loki chuckled. "Oh, there are far too many, little spider. Far too many." He leaned in and brushed his lips against hers. "You cannot win this game."

"It's not a game."

"It always is. That's one truth I can give you."

Natasha watched as he withdrew from the boulder. "You're not surprised I found you today," she called as he hit the ground.

"I would be most disappointed if you didn't find me." Loki gave her an almost manic grin, all sharp teeth and glittering eyes. "Enjoy Bern. They lack imagination, the lot of them, and I would rather they didn't use my name in vain."

"You don't like their brand of worship?" she asked, a teasing lilt to her voice.

Loki smirked. "There is no worship for others in Hydra. If they did wish to serve me, then we would not be speaking of them right now."

That sounded like the Loki she knew. "Where are you going now?"

"Lunch. I'd invite you, but I'm certain you have prior commitments to attend to. I would not keep you from your comrades now."

That implied that he would at some point, that he had plans for her.

Somehow, Natasha was certain she wouldn't like them at all.

***

Against Clint's wishes, Natasha went to Bern. She worked her way into the ranks and determined the location of several other weapons development labs across Europe. It was irritating how often they name dropped Loki, and the scar on her abdomen seemed to twist and burn. She took pleasure in ripping apart the labs and destroying the command structure, letting SHIELD techs look at the weapons. It was indeed similar to Level Two technology that SHIELD had been developing. Natasha wasn't blind to the levels of duplicity inherent in any government agency, but she hadn't been quite so disillusioned as Steve Rogers had been when he discovered it. She mostly chalked it up to not having a high enough clearance level.

She felt more like herself when she returned to New York from Bern. Clint was glad she had returned intact, with no further Loki sightings. Fury was having him oversee a marksmanship class for some junior agents, as the usual instructor was on sick leave. "Hey, check in on Jane for me today, will you?" he asked. "I'll be babysitting the juniors and hoping they don't shoot each other out of spite."

"No, you're hoping they _will,"_ she corrected with a smirk. "Then no one will ever have you take over the class again."

"They'll ask you if I can't," Clint replied, laughing outright at her disgruntled look.

Thor was as effusive as always when Natasha arrived at Stark Tower. He was sitting with the Warriors Three watching children's television while Sif and Jane went shopping. "A Girl's Day, my lady love called it. She had been feeling tired and somewhat confined, so Sif suggested another break from her calculations. It was most fortuitous that SHIELD saw fit to send another bodyguard for Jane when Hawkeye could not accompany them. I understand my brother had made some remarks that were not seemly," Thor continued, not noticing the brief flash of uncertainty in Natasha's expression.

No one else had been assigned to Jane Foster. Her lab, yes. Everyday outings, no. There were eyes and ears on the ground, mostly in the form of new agents and trainees getting their stakeout experience, but no one up close and accompanying her anywhere.

Fear coiled in her gut even as she smiled at Thor and his friends. There was no need to worry them if she was wrong, and it was pleasant to have the four of them around.

Ultimately, Jane returned with Sif and another raven-haired woman. The presumed agent had straight dark hair falling to shoulder length, pale white skin and vivid green eyes. Her teeth were sharp as she smiled at Jane and assisted with carrying shopping bags, and her eyes darted everywhere. That befitted a bodyguard, and Sif did the same thing. The presumed agent's entire expression lit up when she saw Natasha standing there with Thor and the Warriors Three. "Ah. There you are."

A shiver rolled down Natasha's spine and her wrists twinged something fierce in sympathy. It occurred to her that perhaps Clint felt a similar twinge in his chest whenever magic or Loki was involved, though it was difficult to tell. He often kept his bow strap slung across his chest, and he never let that go if he could help it.

The woman moved the way Natasha did, with sinuous but spare motions and with intense focus. Somehow, Natasha suspected that she would wield a knife rather well, and have a keen sense of how to use a pistol or the Widow's Bites. Dammit, Loki had been _studying her_ like a lab specimen.

"Agent Laura of Arbitell, it is as you have said," Sif told the raven-haired woman. "SHIELD is set to protect the Lady Foster as she proceeds in her studies."

Laura smiled and handed the bags over to Jane, who thanked her absently. "Well," she said, voice melodious and calming, "I'm sure with as much stress as Dr. Foster has been under lately, it was good to go out for a bit." She gave Natasha a conspiratorial wink. "Lunch at the mall and some dress suits for when she makes a formal announcement about her work. From what I understand, it's Nobel Prize worthy."

Damn, Loki was good. He almost sounded like one of the junior agents that Clint was currently babysitting. Had he set that in motion?

Natasha gave them all a polite smile. "I'm sure it is. I'd be more worried about godlike beings harming her because of who she associates with."

Laura frowned slightly. "Why would you assume that?"

"We're mortal and very breakable," Natasha returned flatly. Any agent at SHIELD sent to work with Jane would have known that. "Do you know how many died in the Battle of New York?"

"Well, no..."

"Where are you based?" Natasha asked, voice a tad sharp. Sif looked at her in reproach, and Thor was visibly confused by her response.

"The Carrier, of course."

"Which section?" Natasha pressed.

A small tic at the corner of Laura's mouth. It almost seemed like a small smile, but Natasha couldn't be sure. Her heart was pounding harder than she would have liked, and she could recall Loki's weight above her and his magic working beneath her skin. Would Loki pull on invisible magic strings and move her like a marionette, making and unmaking her with reckless abandon?

The thought terrified her. Her control had been hard won, and she intended to keep it.

"You don't trust me, do you?" Laura asked, that melodious voice sounding a little sad.

"If you were truly stationed on the Carrier, you could snap those answers immediately. No hedging, no doubts. Everyone knows about the devastation that day, and why we have to remain on alert for it. There's no telling what Loki plans for this realm, and we don't mean to let him have it." Her eyes bored into Loki's, and she wondered if he even cared about what had happened. He hadn't seemed to care about anything at the time, and when he was bound and magically gagged with some sort of tech from Asgard he certainly didn't like any of them. If anything, he had seemed resentful at getting caught.

"Good to keep in mind," Laura murmured, extending palms up in a placating gesture.

Natasha paused. "You don't have an answer for me, do you, Loki?"

Laura's smile was fully Loki's. "How did you recognize me?"

"You lied, but you don't know enough to really flesh out the lie for those that know what we're talking about."

Sif immediately moved to push a confused Jane behind her. Thor shot to his feet and looked ready to summon Mjolnir, and the Warriors Three were about to raise their own weapons. "What's going on?" Jane asked, voice rising in irritation and fear. Apparently, she had been getting along with Laura pretty well while shopping.

Before anything else could happen, Loki dropped the glamour covering him. He was still in ordinary human clothing, his hair long and straight. The feminine cut of the suit didn't sit right on his spindly masculine form, but no one seemed to notice that detail. No scepter was in sight, but Natasha had to presume that he was carrying it. She couldn't afford to think he was defenseless. His eyes were on Natasha only, and that same razor sharp smile was still on his face. It was disconcerting.

"You try so hard, little spider. It's amusing to watch you dance."

"Is that part of the game?" she asked, eyebrow raised and voice remaining even. "A crazed tyrant looking for people to twist to his aims?" He still smiled at her as if he could guess that her heart beat triple time, that she was actually _nervous_ around him, if only because he was utterly batshit crazy by any definition that she could use.

There was a manic glint in his eyes. It had to be a trap, some sign that she had missed so that she had fallen for whatever play he had in mind. This wasn't the first time she had to work from a defenseless position, but the other times she had at least known what the rules were. Loki kept changing them on the fly.

Of course, that was possibly the point. Plot and counterplot, doubling back to the beginning to start over again. Every other move was a feint, testing her ability to keep up.

It all fell into place as he grabbed her. This was just like being back in the Red Room.

As she twisted in his grasp, reality shimmered around them. Natasha could hear the others' shouts, but it was warped and subdued somehow, as if she was hearing them through a tunnel. Loki laughed, a crazed edge to it, and she saw the world twist into convoluted shapes around them. "You don't need her technology," Natasha accused him, eyes narrowing to slits. "You can make portals any time you like." It didn't even look like Loki was expending as much energy as Thor had said it should.

Loki laughed harder. "But they can't," he chortled, pulling her even closer and stepping _between,_ further into the twisting ether around them. "They can't, they can't, and I won't let them have it easy. You should understand that much by now."

Rage could be a weapon. It could also blind and harm its wielder. One of the first lessons of the Red Room, hard won and used often.

Natasha's nerves fell away in an instant, and she merely stared at Loki as he laughed. If she treated him like one of her old instructors, she could survive this. They had worked hard to forge her into a weapon, to create someone of subtlety and deadly accuracy. As much as she had been trying to plan around him, she had been _reacting._ Even the difficult missions with SHIELD hadn't taxed her too much, and she had grown soft and weak with all of their easy tasks.

She grasped his throat, startling him as he strode through the twisting mass of tangled reality around them. "Where are you taking me?" There was no point in asking why; she likely wouldn't get a straight answer anyway. If she knew where, perhaps she could prepare herself in some way, ensure that her mind or body wouldn't shatter.

He grinned and simply gathered a fistful of her hair and pulled. She refused to let go, and if anything squeezed tighter. She doubted he could withstand a tracheal compression for very long; Jotun and Asgardians still had to breathe sometime. "I'm taking you where you belong," he rasped loudly, lips still pulled back in a rictus grin.

And then he stepped _through_ reality, to a place she didn't recognize at all. The walls were glittering ice, the furniture elaborately wrought in silver or platinum, furs and throw rugs everywhere. Taper candles and a roaring fire threw off light, and there were shelves with leather bound books, scrolls and ornate boxes. A table to the side held ink pots and quills, rolled scrolls and parchment, more stacks of books.

Loki had brought her to his hideaway. His home.

Numb, Natasha let go of him and looked around in stunned confusion. When she looked back at him, he watched her as if she was a caged animal. Perhaps he saw her that way. There was no point in attacking him; the portal behind him was closed, and she saw no other exit. She could only come and go at his whim.

The manic grin was back, and his eyes glittered in that crazed, desperate way she was coming to associate with him. She had somehow fucked up one of his plans, but he was willing to make do and change them as he went. Loki sketched a slight, mocking bow, and she inclined her head toward him. It couldn't hurt to play along.

"Welcome home, little spider."

The End


End file.
